Souderton 2, North Penn 1 (OT)
This is one of those moments they’ll freeze frame in their memories for a lifetime.
It all began innocently enough with Taylor Yoder feeding the ball to Alayna Brown.
The Indians’ gifted junior forward – in one of those wild sequences that can only end in something big – dodged everyone in her path and took a shot at point-blank range that was turned away by Maiden goalie Shannon Keen.
Brown, however, was relentless and followed her shot, slamming home the rebound to give the Indians a dramatic 2-1 upset of the Maidens, setting off the kind of emotionally-charged celebration reserved for special wins.
And this Senior Day win certainly qualified as special.
“It was the greatest thing ever,” senior Alex Atiyeh said. “It was unreal.”
“My eyes watered up right away,” teammate Natalie Guerreiro said. “I was so proud of everyone. Everyone worked so hard.”
The win not only avenged a 3-1 loss to the Maidens earlier this season, it also vaulted the Indians one point ahead of the Maidens and into second place in the all-important Continental Conference standings with one game remaining in the regular season.“This game means a lot to us,” Guerreiro said. “Four years straight – I can’t remember a time that felt this good, but I just remember every time we played them the last four years, it’s always been that big fight against North Penn.
“This being our Senior Night – it’s awesome to finally redeem ourselves.”
One team’s redemption is another team’s heartbreak, and for the Maidens, Monday’s loss was every bit as painful as it was joyful for the Indians.
Less than a week ago, the Maidens were fighting for a share of the conference title. Since their scoreless tie with Central Bucks South on Wednesday, the Maidens came back to defeat Hatboro-Horsham on Friday but fell to state power Emmaus on Saturday (3-1) and then stumbled against the Indians.
“They wanted it more than us, and that was obvious,” said Maiden coach Carrie Jankowski, who was without midfielder Ines Farre. “As a coach, I’m embarrassed when we get out-hearted, (and) the other team wants it more than us. That’s the one thing that really gets me.
“If we play a team that’s better than us, we’ll accept it and learn our lesson, but there’s no reason why another team should very visibly want it more than us. They wanted it more than we did, and that was pretty darn evident when you watched the game.”
Four years of frustration can make a team pretty hungry, and the Indians were hungry on Monday.
“This is huge,” senior Kirstin Russell said. “We have tied them and gone through so many tough losses with them, and this game meant so much to us because we knew what was at stake.
“Plus it’s our Senior Night, and it just feels really good to finally beat them.”
Brown scored the game winner with 9:29 remaining in overtime.
“To be honest, I don’t even remember what happened,” she said afterwards. “This means so much – more than words can explain.
“I wanted to do this so much for the seniors. It’s our last home game, and I know they really wanted to beat North Penn.”
Earlier, the Indians took a 1-0 lead at the 25:49 mark of the first half when Atiyeh fired a penalty stroke into the right corner of the cage. The Maidens drew five corners in the final minutes of the half but couldn’t convert, and the Indians took their 1-0 lead into the intermission.Just over a minute into the second half, the Maidens stunned the Indians when a streaking Juliamae Marger appeared out of nowhere to deflect Elizabeth Fedele’s free hit from beyond the 25 into the cage, knotting the score 1-1.
“I definitely thought (the ball) was going all the way through,” Guerreiro said of Fedele’s free hit that caught everyone watching. “I’m really proud of our team for getting back out there and fighting hard the whole time.”
“It didn’t stop us,” Atiyeh added. “We kept our heads up and fought the entire game.”
The Maidens fought off five second-half Indian corners, including a pair as time expired, and the stage was set for the dramatic overtime.
“The last time we played them – we came out hard in parts of the game,” Atiyeh said. “In this game, we stayed consistent throughout the game, and we had a lot of heart.”
“Everyone’s heart was in this game,” Guerreiro said. “I think our team has doubled its improvement. We just started to play as a team, and that bond is there finally. I’m really looking forward to playoffs.”
While the Indians improved to 10-3 in league play (12-4-1 overall), the Maidens fell to 9-2-2 in the league (12-3-2 overall).
“I said to my team – ‘It might be this abstract concept, but once you can’t win the league title, what’s your intrinsic or extrinsic motivation?’” Jankowski said. “It’s got be, at that point, district seeding, and we just blew it.
“Obviously, my kids want to win, but there’s a difference between wanting to win and doing everything possible with every ounce of your being to win. I thought Souderton was doing that, and I didn’t think we were.”
The Indians held a 12-9 advantage in shots and a 9-7 edge in corners. Keen and Souderton goalie Morgan Brozena both turned away six shots.
“I’m proud of them,” Souderton coach Mary Ann Harris said. “We want to keep playing better and better and go into districts playing our best.”
Cheltenham 3, Upper Moreland 0
Hannah Gilliam couldn’t have picked better time to connect on the first hat trick of her young career. The Lady 
Panthers’ sophomore scored all three of her team’s goals, leading Cheltenham to its first win of the season.
Panthers’ sophomore scored all three of her team’s goals, leading Cheltenham to its first win of the season.“We’re excited,” coach Emily Link Zegestowsky said. “Hannah has really improved throughout the whole season. Her stick skills at the beginning were not real good, but she’s so fast, and she got the experience of playing in varsity games, and I’m so impressed with her stick skills.
“I was so happy for her. She deserved it.”
The Panthers’ first-year coach inherited a squad that had just two returning varsity players, and she has only four seniors on her roster. Only one of them is in the starting lineup.
“It was difficult for a lot of the girls to adjust,” Zegestowsky said. “For them to have primarily played jayvee and to be thrown into varsity – I’m really just proud of them because they’ve really improved.
“We lost to Upper Dublin 9-1 in the first game, and when we played them a week or so ago, we lost 2-1.”
Playing no small role in the Panthers’ change of fortunes has been freshman goalie Emily Hawkins, who regularly turns in double-digit save efforts.
“She’s definitely one of our strengths,” Zegestowsky said. “I knew coming in we lost our goalie from last year, so I was concerned about that.
“When I found out she was a goalie, I knew right away she would be starting for us. We really worked with her during preseason, and she’s really strong. In really tough games, she’s had 20-some saves. Of course, she can’t save everything, but she is really strong, and she has been a big part of our team. She deserves a lot of credit.”
Sibling Allison Hawkins, a sophomore, was a starting midfielder for the Panthers, but she has been sidelined since suffering an injury last week.
Gilliam and Gabby Szezcpanek, according to the Panthers’ coach, have worked well together on the forward line for the Panthers.
“Gabby is also very quick, and her stick skills have also really improved,” Zegestowsky said. “It’s nice to see them do things in a game that we’ve worked on in practice.”
In Monday’s win, Zegestwosky did not have any varsity subs. “We have a really small jayvee team,” she said. “All of the girls today played the full game.”
The win was the first in 11 conference games for the Lady Panthers.
“It was nice to start scoring towards the end of the season because early in the year the defense was doing all the work,” Zegestowsky said. “When the offense finally got the ball, they were finishing, so scoring a goal here and there really boosted their confidence.
“Today they were super excited. I was really excited for them.”
Central Bucks West 2, Pennridge 1
Coach Kit Sinnamon started 10 seniors on her squad’s Senior Night, and the night had a happy ending as the Bucks emerged victorious in a hard-fought battle against their neighboring rival.
“It was exciting,” the Bucks’ first-year coach said. “We had so many seniors that it takes up the whole field.
“I planned on starting them all, and if we were playing well and winning and creating opportunities, it was my intention that they could stay in the whole game.”
The two teams battled to a scoreless tie after one half of action, and it was the Rams breaking the tie when Sarah Yerk connected at the 16:30 mark of the second half. Senior Dani Weidman (Christy Grezeszak assist) answered with a goal for the Bucks at the 10:41 mark.
“We moved some people around ,” Sinnamon said. “We moved Trish (Kilgannon) to sweeper and Alex Miller to center back to strengthen our defense – both of them normally play middy positions. They just did an excellent job back there, working together and shutting down Pennridge’s offense.
“Dani – from the get-go – was putting her heart in at practice because she wanted to win so badly tonight, and all of them just really wanted to win as a senior class.”
Grezeszak connected for the game winner with 10:07 remaining in regulation, assisted by Heather Zezzo.
“Once Pennridge scored that goal, I put Christy up top, and luckily, we scored two goals,” Sinnamon said.
The Bucks closed out the game the same way they started it - with all 10 seniors on the field.
William Tennent 2, Abington 0
For the second time in four days, the Panthers – this time sparked by goals from Mia Morris and Brittany Mitchell - defeated the Ghosts.
“It was a good win,” coach Kate Wyatt said. “Even though we won by one on Friday, it was a close game.
“We were ready for them, and we knew they would come looking for a ‘W’.”
Wyatt lauded the performances of Morris, Mitchell and Taylor Pritchett in the win.
“Brittany Mitchell scored off the pads – got her own rebound and put it in,” Wyatt said. “She’s such a smart player. She has great passes, and her stickwork is so good. She really came up big for us.”
The win upped the Panthers record to 8-3-1 as the battle for second in the National Conference is still far from over. Neshaminy is 7-3-1 with a game against National Conference champion Council Rock North looming on the horizon. Tennent will take on the Redskins on Tuesday and Pennsbury on Wednesday.
“Those games are probably two of our biggest games of the season back-to-back,” Wyatt said. “Another win makes us feel a little better, but the girls are really concentrating on coming out strong. We’re nipping at each other’s heels.”
Central Bucks East 3, Quakertown 0
The Patriots received a pair of goals from Carolyn Remmey and a goal and an assist from Emily Vasey. Shannon Devlin also chipped in an assist for the Patriots, who improved to 7-4 with a showdown against Souderton looming on the horizon on Wednesday at War Memorial Field.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 7, Upper Merion 0
Meg McCullough, Galen Newsum and Bryn Frankhouser each scored a pair of goals while Ariana Horn added a single goal in the Panthers convincing win over the Vikings. Coach Marianne Paparone acknowledged the strong effort of her team and was especially pleased with her squad’s passing.
Council Rock North 5, Bensalem 0
Council Rock South 2, Pennsbury 1
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